'BATTLE FOR THE BELTS' - (Calgary,
Alberta, Canada) November 2nd, 2002
Mike Miles held his last televised fight event of 2002 while
unveiling the Mike Miles Productionsseries for TSN and the Canadian Pay-Per-View channels
(Bell ExpressVU, Viewers Choice. The event showcased 13 bouts and featured athletes from Canada battling
against athletes from Australia, the Philippines, the U.K., the U.S.A. as well as against a few other 'homegrown'
athletes from Canada. The evening proved to be a showcase of blood, sweat, and tears from all the athletes, much to the
delight of the 3000 plus spectators.
The main event of the evening promised to be a scorcher and people were not to be disappointed. At stake was the
WMC Professional Commonwealth Lightwelterweight Muay Thai Title. Calgary's Trevor 'T.N.T.' Smandych
(Mike Miles Muay Thai) came in fresh off a very impressive win over American Dan 'Tanis' Rawlings in the
middle of September. He was to face the highly touted Kurt 'Killer' Finlayson (Sunshine Coast Thai Boxing
Center) from Australia. Finlayson was to boast a professional record with 3 times the experience of the Canadian
athlete as well as some very impressive titles under his belt. The Australian's last fight was in August in Australia
in an 8 man elimination tournament for $10,000. Finlayson was to be the runner up in that event, but tonight more
than ever, he wanted to defeat his Canadian foe and go home with the big news and the WMC belt.
Tonight, courtesy of Finlayson, Smandych was to fight one of the toughest battles of his career. Disappointingly,
'T.N.T' was not going to be able to explode the way he wanted. Regardless, the Calgarian still proved he had more
than enough in his arsenal to get the job done. Smandych was to win the bout by a majority decision (two judges scored
the bout 48 to 46 while the remaining judge scored the bout 47 to 47).
In the first two rounds Smandych started a little slow while Finlayson executed a game plan which was to hit and
move. "He punches very hard that I was surprised that he took this strategy in his fight plan", said Canadian
Coach Mike Miles. "We had worked Trevor hard on expecting Finlayson to come forward and throw his hard punches."
But the new game plan seemed to frustrate Smandych and Finlayson took the edge in the first round for sure and
possibly in the second. In the third round T.N.T. fired off and landed one very explosive blow. A thundering left
body hook hit the Australian athlete in the rib cage and he went down onto the canvas rolled up in a ball in agony
(for the fight's only knockdown). The pro-Smandych crowd chanted "T.N.T., T.N.T." as he closed in and tried
to explode one more time. But he could not finish the slick Aussie off. "I saw I had hurt his body, but I got too
excited. He saw me setting it up, so there was no way I could get another shot in the way I wanted", said
Smandych. The Canadian was to take this round by two points. In round four Finlayson was to try and survive the
onslaught of the Canadian who was hell bent on hammering the body to stop the Australian. Smandych looked stronger
and more effective in the clinch which seemed to inspire Finlayson to try and hit and move to try and save his
injured rib cage. Smandych was to take this round as well. In round five, Finlayson tried to change the momentum by
becoming aggressive again. The two warriors exchanged with some excellent blows, but Smandych seemed to cover for
most of the Australian's shots (except for one strong uppercut which snapped the Canadian's head back). Smandych
pressed forward throughout the round and seemed to land more blows than his foe. The fifth and final round was close.
Even though victorious, the 24 year old athlete was somewhat disappointed in his performance. "I was not on
tonight. I'm disappointed, as I know I could have done better", said Smandych. Coach Mike Miles was to say
"Trevor looked a little off today. He did a lot of single shooting which is not his style. Everybody has on days
and off days and that is to be expected in the fight game. He still took on an extremely tough and very capable
fighter and handled it very well". Smandych's professional record now improves to 7 wins and 1 loss.
"This was a great fight for Trevor! Fights like this gives him invaluable experience", said Mike Miles.
"I am happy I won and now I can look forward to the C-MAX Welterweight Tournament in February. This
will be another learning experience as it will be the first time I am fighting in a tournament setting where all
fights will take place on one night", said Smandych.
Jason 'Raptor' Jillain (Mike Miles Muay Thai) stepped into the ring against Australia's Andrew 'Mr. KO'
Keogh (McKay Muay Thai). This was to be the last fight of Jillain's 8 year career. At stake was the WMC
Intercontinental Lightmiddleweight Muay Thai Title. In this bout the Raptor was to strike. Though the bout
started with both athletes quite even and cautious in the strike attempts, by round three the Raptor had decided to
pick the pace up. He threw a punch and though the Australian blocked the punch, he did not expect Jillain to
immediately step in and deliver a knee to his stomach. The knee dropped Keogh for an 8 count. Keogh got back up and
the two athletes went at it again. Jillain landed an overhand right which dropped the Australian for another 8 count.
The tough athlete from down under got up and Jillain was to put the finishing touch on this bout at the end of the
fourth round. "He (Keogh) seemed to be worried about his head so I faked a jab and spun with the back kick. I've
never thrown a back kick in a fight and landed it. So, I figured what the heck", said Jillain. The kick landed
and dropped the Australian athlete again. Keogh was not able to beat the count. "This was a spectacular way for
Jillain to hang up his gloves", said coach Mike Miles. "I would like to thank my coach Mike Miles for
everything he has done over the years because I would never have achieved what I did without him", said a
grateful Jillain.
The undercard featured the following results:
Adam Higson (Hamilton, Ontario - Gong) returned to Calgary with a vengeance. He was back to prove that he
has what it takes to compete in the Muay Thai ring, because during his last outing in the city ( 2 years earlier),
Higson was defeated by an athlete from the UK. Tonight his foe was American Alan Florez (La Puente Muay Thai
Kickboxing) and at stake was the vacant WKA Amateur North American Middleweight Muay Thai Title. Flores boasted a
very impressive fight record, and many concluded that the Canadian would end up being another notch on the belt of
his American foe. This was not to be. Higson was in shape and he used all of his weapons effectively. At times,
Florez seemed somewhat perplexed on how to deal with his foe. Higson seemed to turn the heat up another notch during
each successive round and this was to prove to influence the final result with Higson stopping his opponent at 40
seconds of the fourth round.
With the Intercontinental Bantamweight Muay Thai Title on the line, Calgary's Leeanne McLim
(Mike Miles Muay Thai) looked evenly matched in the first round of her bout against the smaller but more experienced
Loraina Hallasgo (National Muay Thai Center of the Philippines) from the Philippines. In the clinch, Hallasgo
seemed to be getting the better of the two with good knee and elbow attacks at her Canadian foe. In the second round,
right after a short knee exchange, McLim shoved her opponent backwards from the clinch and landed a devastating right
roundhouse to Hallasgo's face. The Filipino girl went down and did not recover before being counted it. McLim won
the bout and the title by kick KO at 1:28 of the second round.
Perhaps the most inspiring bout of the evening featured 43 year old Shelley Evans (Mike Miles Muay Thai)
returning to the ring just 3 months after having a daughter Misha-Leigh. Many were surprised to see the Canadian
back in the ring so soon after giving birth. Evans looked somewhat rusty in this very close match against 19 year
old Cherry Ballatong (National Muay Thai Center of the Philippines) from the Philippines. At stake was the
Intercontinental Superfeatherweight Muay Thai Title. Evans at times, seemed to be somewhat on somewhat
unstable legs (balance) while exchanging with Ballatong. The Filipino girl looked strong with her kicks, but she did
not seem to want to clinch with the physically stronger Evans, and was on the losing end when exchanging punches
with the Canadian. The bout went the distance with Evans winning the title unanimously. Evans had landed some brutal
punches that hurt her foe during the bout but would not or could not capitalize and go for the knockout. "Having
Misha-Leigh was the easy part", said Evans, "but I have not sparred in a year, so getting back in the ring
was hard!"
Sokhim Or (Mike Miles Muay Thai) stepped into the ring against England's Mohammad Arif (Warrington
Muay Thai). The first round was to be a repeat what everyone who has seen during a typical Or fight in the past. He
seemed dwarfed by the taller Brit (as is usually the case). During the bout, Arif forced the action in the first
round pushing Or back into the ropes. Or covered very well and luckily, saw a vicious knee delivered by Arif just
miss his face. Had it landed, most predict it would have been lights out! In the second round, Or still took the
strategy of taking his time, covering, and fighting defensively. Arif again steam rolled forward and forced the
Canadian back onto the ropes. Explosively, Or delivered a very short punch which caught the English fighter on the
chin and Arif went down. It was clear as the referee counted that Arif would never make the count and be able to
fight or defend himself safely so the referee stopped the fight at 1:31 of the second round with Or winning by a TKO.
In a very exciting bout, Mark Charles (Kaobon Muay Thai) who is a school teacher from England, squared
off against a school student Matthew Krochter (Abbotsford, Canada - Gold Lion). The desire and skill of these
two athletes was exciting to watch. Charles seemed to 'school' (pun intended) his younger foe at times with beautiful
combinations put together while working up to down and down to up, not allowing Krochter to settle into his fight
plan. The Canadian took some great shots and proved how tough he was. But Charles was still to prove that he was the
'teacher' to Krochter this night. Charles was to win the title unanimously. What a good fight! Charles against
Higson would make a good fight in Canada!
The final international bout of the evening was to feature Canada's Trevor Hardy (Progressive Fighting
Academy) against the USA's Jorge Bejar (Siam Muay Thai de Tecate) in a Kickboxing rules prestige bout. Both
men looked surprisingly fit and fast for their weight division. Bejar seemed to force the action in the first round
with Hardy trying to settle into his game plan. In the second round Hardy picked up the pace and though being
encouraged to attack his foes body, he landed several heavy head shots that saw the bout stopped at 57 seconds of
the second round.
There were 4 matches that featured Canada against Canada that started off the event. The results are as follows:
In a WKA Western Canadian Superheavyweight Muay Thai Title bout, former Manitoba native and athlete
Nick Penner (Mike Miles Muay Thai) was to square off against Lee Mein (Mein's Martial Arts). Both men
looked in great shape and were very tactical (pacing themselves) in the first round firing off some impressive
punches and kicks. In the second round (at 39 seconds), Penner delivered a high left roundhouse kick, which landed
on Mein's head and dropped him hard and heavy to the canvas. Penner was to win the vacant title by kick KO.
Phil Leier (Mike Miles Muay Thai) was to face British Columbia's Chad Walmsley (KB-1) in a 3 round
non-title modified Muay Thai battle. The first round started off quite evenly. Towards the end of the round, the two
athletes fell into a clinch and Walmsley delivered a knee which caught Leier in the groin and dropped him hard to
the canvas. In the final two rounds, Leier was to take the close decision by pressing the attack and being more
effective in the clinch. A rematch between these two athletes in the future would make a great fight!
One of Calgary's female Muay Thai athletes, Rayelene Kellock (Mike Miles Muay Thai) was forced to switch
things up and fight under Kickboxing rules (low kick) when her original opponent pulled out. She faced Suzy
Huber (Iron Fist) from Saskatoon, who thrw in the towel at the end of the second round.
The remaining fight featured Trail's Gavin 'Snacks' Neil (Pride Gym) against Vancouver's David
Stewart (Suitela's). The bout was fought under modified Muay Thai. Stewart has a very impressive record of
knocking people out and tonight he wanted to continue with this streak. He dropped some vicious bombs on Neil who
took the shots and walked right through them (t-o-u-g-h kid!!!!!). In round two Neil started forcing the action and
Stewart was to back peddle trying to still land his bomb. By third round Neil was full steam ahead and though Neil
was never on the verge of knocking his foe out, Stewart looked very tired while Neil just seemed to be picking up
the steam as each round progressed. Neil was to win the bout unanimously.
Unfortunately for the Mike Miles Productions "Battle for the Belts" event, two marquee athletes from
Canada (and more specifically Mike Miles Muay Thai) were not able to compete on this night. Erin 'Nitro'
Linley was originally scheduled to rematch the girl she lost to in the 2002 King's Cup in Thailand in July. This
bout was plagued with problems with the Thai girl changing her mind 3 times as to whether she would come or not to
the event. Finally, during a sparring match, Linley fractured her arm and that was to be the final straw which broke
the camel's back in the much anticipated rematch. Jennifer 'Wildcat' Cutbill (Mike Miles Muay Thai) was scheduled to meet the UK's
Lorraine Farley. As the bout drew closer (several weeks before the event), Farley broke her hand while
sparring. In a rush to find a suitable opponent many people assisted the promoters to try and find someone. Finally
a match was set up between Jennifer and the USA's Lynda Loyce. Unfortunately, Cutbill was to injure her leg
(risking a complete tendon rupture in which the doctors would not allow her to compete) leading up to the event, and
she too had to bow out of the program. Both Cutbill and Loyce were very disappointed in the turn of events. The
"Battle for the Belts" was a great show (as the events just keep getting better and better), but with Linley and
Cutbill participating, it could have even been that much more incredible! All one can do is look forward to the next
big event. Stay tuned...